Imminent Danger Thanks To Rice

In the year since the US Supreme Court said government can take private property for private redevelopment, nationally property up for local government grabs has tripled. New Jersey ranked fourth on the list. The Assembly is scheduled to vote this week on an eminent domain reform bill. But the Senate doesn’t plan to have hearings until the summer and maybe that will run into the fall which could put a new law’s effective date into 2007. Sen. Ron Rice chairs the committee that would handle the bill of which he is a sponsor. Rice didn’t have hearings in the spring because he was too busy running a losing campaign for mayor of Newark. Another good reason to ban dual office-holding and ample evidence you can’t serve two constituencies at once. Rice has let down the people of New Jersey.

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About Bob Ingle

Bob Ingle is Senior Political Columnist for Gannett New Jersey newspapers and co-author of The New York Times' Best Seller, "The Soprano State: New Jersey's Culture of Corruption" and "Chris Christie: The Inside Story Of His Rise To Power". He has won numerous journalism awards and is often a news analyst on radio and television. Twitter @ bobingle99.

4 Responses to Imminent Danger Thanks To Rice

EXCERPT Bob Ingle’s Feb 26, 2006 column, “Step backward: Sen. Ron Rice, D-Essex, is pushing a self-serving bill that would exempt property-tax records maintained by local tax assessors from the definition of government record. The public couldn’t get them through the Open Public Records Act. But, real-estate agents would have open access. Rice is in real estate, which says a lot about how the bill sailed through the committee Rice chairs. It’s bad legislation. It shouldn’t go any further. Kill it.” END EXCERPT

Over time, the Newark Housing Authority — which is under federal review for suspicious spending and hiring practices — has named Tony Gomes Construction Co the developer on three major construction projects worth $34 million, despite Tony Gomes Construction Co’s having little experience in that role. On one project, Tony Gomes Construction Co was selected despite a below average rating by the housing authority’s own consultant.

In 2001, before he was appointed deputy mayor but was a state senator, Sen Ronald Rice wrote letters to Mayor James, housing authority board Chairman Zinnerford Smith, authority Executive Director Harold Lucas and city council President and authority commissioner Donald Bradley on behalf of Tony Gomes Construction Co, newspaper investigations found, and in fact was employed by the company

Sen Rice maintained he had no conflict of interest (poster laughs uproariously).

Sen Rice listed his position with Tony Gomes Construction Co on his state and city financial disclosure forms, but does not detail the nature of his job or disclose his salary. Rice would only say that he is paid less than $100,000 by Tony Gomes Construction Co. Rice also draws a $49,000 salary as a state senator and $83,000 as Newark’s deputy mayor.

Under the Local Government Ethics Law of 1991, Sen/Deputy Mayor Rice, a public official, cannot accept a job in the private sector that would “prejudice his independence of judgment in the exercise of his official duties.” It also prohibits officials from appearing before “any agency” of local government about any matter.

Mayor James, who appointed Rice deputy mayor in 2002, said he did not consider Rice’s job with Tony Gomes Construction Co. a conflict of interest, since Rice has no direct control over housing authority appointments.

NOTE: Rice supposedly quit the job with Gomes but it’s anyone’s guess how much he and Sharpie and the housing guys are pocketing from Tony in untraceable casino chips.

In addition to using phony documentation to justify bloated NHA funded projects and filing fraudulent accounting reports to siphon off a bundle.

The $34 million project awarded toTony Gomes began construction in June 2004. Gomes pledged that thetownhouses would be completed byDecember 2004. Two years later,the project is still not completed.It appears that Tony Gomes never heard of OSHA or EPA. Maybe, with Rice in his pocketbook, hedoes not think he needs to follow the rules. I suspect that if HUDdoesn’t get another company to complete the job, the townhouses will never be ready for occupancy.

Tony Gomes….is a very vicious man, who would hurt anyone who came in between him and a dollar. I think he used Rice’s name to help his company.

He has lost many good people who worked so very hard for him. None of the people who worked for him before would ever go back. He hurts everyone who cares anything about him. Like I said, he is a very vicious man.

Gomes has corrupted a lot of city officials, just ask former Jersey City Mayor Tom McCann. Any elected official should stay far away from him. He is vicious and bad news. It’s only a matter of time before Tony gets what he deserves. Some long overdue jail time

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Bob Ingle, Senior Political Columnist for Gannett New Jersey newspapers, on politics in "The Soprano State".

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Bob IngleBob Ingle is Senior Political Columnist for Gannett New Jersey Newspapers and co-author of The New York Times' Best Seller, "The Soprano State: New Jersey's Culture of Corruption." Hear him Fridays at 5 p.m. on www.tommygshow.com radio. twitter.com/bobingle99 E-mail Bob

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"Chris Christie: The Inside Story of His Rise to Power," written by Bob Ingle and Michael Symons, offers the first inside portrait of New Jersey’s governor, who in two years as governor emerged as a national Republican Party figure famous for his blunt public statements. The book details Christie’s combative public persona and deep family roots, tracing his improbable political rise from a bruising stint in county government to his anti-corruption crusade as U.S. Attorney for New Jersey. Chris Christie: The Inside Story of His Rise to Power goes behind the scenes to reveal his family life, his public life, and what the future might hold..

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"The Soprano State," written by Bob Ingle and Sandy McClure, details the you-couldn't-make-this-up true story of the corruption that has pervaded New Jersey politics, government, and business for the past thirty years. From Jimmy Hoffa purportedly being buried somewhere beneath the end zone in Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands, through allegations of a thoroughly corrupt medical and dental university, through Mafia influence at all levels, to a governor who suddenly declares himself a “gay American” and resigns, the Garden State might indeed be better named after the HBO mobsters.

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